Rick's Ruby

Chapter 20

Rick plunged the blade of his knife into the eye socket of the walker closest to him, and felt the texture of the skull, all soft and rotten, pop under his touch. There weren't a lot of them, but if the night had taught him anything it was that it didn't matter. It only took one unexpected walker to down one of the bravest, strongest men Rick ever knew, and one tiny, unborn baby to make his son lose his mother. It wasn't right, none of this was right, and reality had stopped making sense. That he had taken off from the house and lit out across the field towards the neighboring houses without regard or care hadn't really registered. He didn't notice Daryl close behind him, pegging off the occasional walker that Rick didn't get, or that he was covered in bits of bone and blood and flesh, none of it occurred to him. All he saw was the slow but steady round after round of walkers, wandering separately from each other across the landscape, and the curious realization that every time he killed one, he saw flashes of Lori in his mind's eye. Bright, smiling, teen Lori. Big as a house pregnant-with-Carl Lori. Just Lori, when things had been ok and the world had been right.

A mile down the road, he misjudged the movement of one particularly small walker. A teenager in it's old life, it wore a torn skirt and no shirt any longer, long ago ripped and rotted away. Aiming for it's head, it jerked at the last minute and he swiped its neck, spurting black goo everywhere. He toppled over, unbalanced, and the thing started to go for him when one of Daryl's arrows entered its brain with a loud plop sound. It fell over him, and he shoved it off disgustedly.

"Come on, Rick. Get with me, man." Daryl said gruffly and got down on one knee, supporting Rick with his free arm.

"Get off." Rick pushed at him, but Daryl held his ground.

"Nah, can't do that. We got pretty far out here, there's a lot more of those things if you haven't noticed." Daryl tugged at him, trying to get him to his feet.

Rick wasn't having it. "Good. Let 'em come."

"I ain't even humoring that one, man. You got a boy back there just lost his mom. You need to get on up and get back with me."

"What the hell happened, Daryl?" Rick fell back on hid heels and looked at Daryl so lost and confused it startled him, and Daryl paused. Letting out a deep breath, he scanned the fields around them.

"Wish I knew. Believe me."

"What am I supposed to tell Carl now? Just wait, if you're not dead in a week, I probably will be? What the hell kind of life is that for a kid?"

Daryl frowned deeply. This wasn't his forte, consoling people. It was never something he was comfortable with, but he had the distinct impression that if he didn't do this now for Rick, the man might never come back. Mentally speaking. "He's alive, Rick. That's what's important. The rest can be worked out."

A low moan from behind them made Daryl whip around. A walker was approaching from the direction of the house, and it made his skin crawl to realize just how far out there they were in the dark. "Get up now." He ordered. "We got to get back."

Rick nodded slowly, and while he made his way to his feet, Daryl quickly dispatched the walker as quietly as possible. They'd already made too much noise as it was. He began the trek back a step behind Rick so he could keep an eye on him, and almost prayed as he moved that he would be able to snap out of this soon. If he didn't, it wasn't a "if" Rick would die, it would simply be "when".

It was nearing sunup when Beth emerged from Hershel's room with Paul, the two of them looking drawn and tired. Glenn had curled up back on the couch with Maggie, and Ruby never took her eyes off the door. None of them had thought about the normal things people do since the previous evening: eating, drinking, things like that. Beth slipped off with a candle into a small bathroom on the lower floor and Paul came and sat next to Ruby at the door. He had found a bottle of water somewhere in a bag someone had thought to bring in, and he took a long drink and handed it to her so she could do the same.